All posts tagged ‘Forbidden Island’

I have been to a lot of very large conventions in the gaming industry and I’d compare PAX East to the GenCon of the video game market. Although to a tabletop geek like myself, the board gaming, miniature gaming, and role-playing was well represented. I had the opportunity to play a lot of games, observe some games, and add some new games to my games-to-play list.

Games I Played And My Initial Impressions

Disclaimer: I have only played a short convention-style demo for some of the games listed below (unless otherwise mentioned). My opinions are only my first impressions and basic rule sets. Upon playing a full length game, I reserve the right to change my opinion.

D&D Next (Wizards of the Coast): I will admit to being a long-time fan of Dungeons & Dragons since Basic, through AD&D, into 3e and Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. I really wanted to like 4th Edition but was let down by 4e. I’m willing to give this old flame a second chance so I went into D&D Next with an open mind. I played the 2-hour introductory adventure to the system and met five other gamers in the marshaling line that didn’t set me on edge (they were fantastic to play with). So going into the game I had five great people to go through my first D&D Next adventure with and since we were the first game of the day our Dungeon Master had plenty of rest. The stars all aligned to give me a positive first impression of the game. The changes to the rules which resembles many 3.5 mechanics had surprised me by taking a few of the mechanics I really liked in 4th Edition D&D (such as wizard cantrips).

The adventure went smoothly and the pre-generated characters provided a well-rounded experience. The mechanic I liked the most was the advantage & disadvantage rules. The new rules have gotten rid of the big charts of circumstance modifiers, stacked bonuses, range modifiers, and situations that required players to (literally) keep spreadsheets for attack modifiers when rolling dice. If you find yourself attacking an enemy that is unaware of your presence you will have advantage and this allows you to roll 2d20 (two 20-sided dice) and select the highest result. If you find yourself shooting your bow at an enemy at long range, you would be firing at a disadvantage which means you roll 2d20 and select the lowest result. Continue Reading “My PAX East 2013 Tabletop Game Highlight Reel” »

Forbidden Island is a wonderful, easy-to-learn cooperative board game designed by Matt Leacock, the guy behind Pandemic (also fantastic). The game was a Mensa Select Game in 2010 and was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres earlier this year. The game has up to four players racing to acquire four treasures from an island before it sinks into the sea. What’s really great is that kids can play the game along with their parents, but the difficulty level can be ramped up for more experienced players, too.

Now you can explore Forbidden Island from the (relative) safety of your iPad! The $4.99 app, released last week by Gamewright and Button Mash Games, is a pretty faithful reproduction of the game that takes care of a lot of the fiddly stuff you have to remember to do but retains the building tension and excitement of the original. It’s not entirely without its faults (but I’ve got my physical-versus-electronic leanings) but it’s still a pretty cool way to take Forbidden Island with you.